


The Dulvey Operation

by Harley_Quinn13



Series: The RE Chronicles [3]
Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse), Resident Evil - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Betrayal, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance | BSAA, Bisexual Female Character, Blue Umbrella, F/F, F/M, Gay, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Jealousy, Lesbians, Memory Loss, Multi, Murder, Past Relationship(s), Plot Twists, Polyamory, Resurrection, Sequel, Spies & Secret Agents, The Connections, Trauma, Umbrella Corporation, implied polyamory, schism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 16:20:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17749274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harley_Quinn13/pseuds/Harley_Quinn13
Summary: Not even a year after the horrors of the Baker estate, Jolene begins to experience fevers and pain that could be related to the mold. Chris Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy are sent to retrieve her for Blue Umbrella to test on, but who could be trusted in this new organization?A familiar face shows up once more, and The Connections are more than what meets the eye.





	1. Chapter 1

_Sunlight glared in Jolene’s eyes as she exited the mines, Redfield on her left holding her arm to make sure she wasn’t going to fall. Her knees felt weak and numb, but she was outside again. She was outside and off of the Baker property. The stinging of the gunshot wound had gone numb, and before she knew it she couldn’t feel it at all. Her hand came up to cover her eyes. A group of people circled around the two, questions flying at them but the majority were directed at Redfield. Everything was a blur, nobody had a face, the world was spinning, but she was free. She was finally free._

_“Dr. Greene!” Redfield shouted. A woman approached them, a worried look on her face. Jolene took one look at the doctor before collapsing to the ground. Dr. Greene knelt down, placing her hand on Jolene’s shoulder before she looked up at Redfield. Her vivid green eyes scanned over Jolene’s form, observing her and taking in her condition._

_“She got caught in the crossfire. She jumped in front of Lucas earlier.” Dr. Greene shook her head._

_“She’s extremely malnourished. She seems dehydrated as well.” Jolene began to slip out of consciousness._

_“You said she was shot? I don’t see a wound.”_

_“She’s already healed ma’am.” Dr. Greene looked away for a few moments before ushering medics over to help her lift Jolene._

   Jolene stirred in her sleep. She was having another nightmare, the fourth one this week. Zoe sat up and placed her cold hand on her shoulder, trying to wake her up. She groaned in pain, causing Zoe to retract her hand. Sweat gathered on Jolene’s forehead, and she became pale. The groaning soon faded into panting, and mindless stirring. Things seemed to die down for a brief moment.

  Then, in the blink of an eye, Jolene was awake, screaming out in pain and clutching at her stomach. Zoe reached over to turn on the lamp beside her, which flooded the room with light. She could see her girlfriend writhing around in pain, but she wasn’t sure what to do. Tears glistened in Jolene’s eyes and fell down her cheeks. Zoe crawled in front of her and grabbed her face between her hands, wiping the tears away with her thumbs.

  “Jolene, sweetie. I need ya to look at me.” She didn’t. Her eyes closed tightly as her face contorted into a look of pure pain once more.

  “Honey please.” Her eyes opened again briefly, and Zoe could see that Jolene was begging her to do something. She screamed again, and Zoe jumped off of the bed and reached for her cell phone, dialing the number for the people who knew how to fix this.

  “Hello, this is the Umbrella Corporation. If you have a tip to report press one, if you’re applying for an open position press 2, if you want to talk to a representative press 3.”

  Zoe didn’t let the computer finish and pressed three. The phone rang for a few moments, with Jolene’s agonizing screams echoing in the background. Finally, the phone stopped ringing and clicked, and the sound of a woman’s voice came on the other line.

  “Hello, this is Veronica, how may I help you?”

  “I need to speak with Dr. Greene.” Zoe demanded. Veronica went silent for a few moments as she typed something on her computer. She muttered something to someone else, and Jolene cried out again, causing Zoe to flinch. She waited as patiently as she could, but it felt like it was taking forever. Zoe placed her hand over Jolene’s, trying to soothe her to the best of her abilities, but she had no idea what was going on. Veronica could hear the screams of agony in the background, and she knew immediately that that’s why they were calling. It was in the early hours of the morning, no one was there but her and a few other receptionists.

  “Dr. Greene isn’t in right now. I, uh, I hate to tell you this but it is two in the morning. I can leave a message-”

  “This is Zoe Baker, I’m callin’ about Jolene West. We both survived the incident on the Baker property.” Zoe interrupted. Veronica went silent again as she listened to the crying on the other line. She felt fear strike through her as she brought up the files on the Baker incident. Veronica thought to herself, she knew that Dr. Greene wasn’t in Dulvey, but the records show that both Zoe Baker and Jolene West rented an apartment in Dulvey. She sighed.

  “I’ll call her. Keep Ms. West comfortable while we send operatives to your location. I’m just telling you that it might take a while, Dr. Greene doesn’t live in Louisiana, she’s in North Carolina. Just be patient, we’ll do what we can until Dr. Greene arrives in our facility.” Veronica told her. She nodded, feeling a bit relieved knowing that people who know what to do are going to help Jolene.

  “Thank you.” Zoe said before hanging up. Jolene was laying on her side, silently crying as she clutched at her lower stomach. Zoe took pity on her, she felt sadness as she watched the girl she loved suffer. Jolene looked up at her, a small smile on her face.

  “Hey Zo. Mornin’.” She said, her voice raspy from screaming. Zoe smiled at her, feeling tears fill her eyes at the sight of her girlfriend. The fact that she still managed to talk to her, despite what she was going through, was touching to Zoe. She put her hand on her shoulder and rubbed it lovingly.

  “You should relax.” She told her. A shudder shot through Jolene as she curled around herself again, another shock wave of pain rushed through her body and she whined. Zoe sat in bed, watching as Jolene fell asleep again.

 

2

 

   Leon sat in the passenger seat of Chris’s car as the two rode through the streets of Dulvey. He gazed out the window, watching other cars drive by; watching the few people walking on the streets. He was tired, he didn’t want to be there… all he wanted to do was to relax.

  They were sent back into Dulvey to get Zoe Baker and Jolene West. Veronica had told them that the symptoms Jolene was experiencing could have meant she was rejecting the serum; the cure. So Chris and him had to go down there to bring them to the labs in Louisiana, which just so happens to be in Dulvey.

  The sun was a brilliant gold that day, and it painted the sidewalks with its heavenly glow. It was still rather early in the morning, and Leon still wasn’t completely awake. The serenity of the early morning seemed to lull him into a daze, a sense of false comfort. The warm breeze of that lovely spring morning whipped into the car every now and then, blowing his bangs out of his face when he refused to push them out of the way. Everything was peaceful that morning.

  Nobody would be prepared for what would happen a few weeks from then.

  “So, how much longer until we get there?” Leon asked, still not looking at Chris.

  “About five minutes. They live in the city now, be thankful for that. When we had to drive down here to get a closer look at the baker estate a couple years back it was absolute hell. The swamps down here are crazy.” Chris told him. Leon rolled his eyes, shifting his position in the leather seats of his friend’s red Jeep.

  “Yeah, sure. It’s not like we’ve been through worse or anything.” Leon stated sarcastically. This prompted a small chuckle from Chris.

  “Hey, you haven’t tried driving back there yet. Back then, you could only get so far before you had to walk, and that’s when the Baker’s started to take you out one by one.” Chris said, the humor in his voice fading as he began to mention the disappearances of one of his old teams.

  The first run was a hard one for them. Half of them went in, while Chris and the rest stayed outside next to the truck. They underestimated the Baker’s, which was their first mistake. Most of them got lost and then picked up by Jack, and as the sun got low, the ones that stayed behind wanted to leave. Half of Chris’s men went missing that day, they were never found. Of course, Chris still hasn’t gotten over it.

  “We’re here.” Chris stated, pulling into a parking lot next to a large apartment complex. The building was brick, with dozens of windows decorating the outside of the building. Each level had a balcony on one side, and a few people were already out and sitting on their balcony. Trees lined the sidewalk around the parking lot, which gave the place a friendlier, hotel-like feeling. Zoe stood outside, her arms crossed and a lit cigarette between her lips. She had promised Jolene she would quit, but what had happened the night before brought back the itch. She looked over at the two men who were exiting the Jeep, and quickly put out the cigarette.

  “Are y’all the guys they sent over?” She asked, not realizing that one of them had helped rescue her from the hell that was her old home.

  “Yeah, Zoe. It’s nice to see you out and about. You look like you’re doing good, got some color now.” Chris commented. Zoe smiled at him.

  “Hey. Sorry about not recognizin’ ya, it’s been one hell of a night.” She told him. He nodded. Leon stood behind him, watching them interact as he longed for a cup of coffee (or maybe something a bit stronger, if Chris would allow it). He had a rough night too, with his dreams slowly morphing into nightmares about his past; Raccoon City, Natalya, seeing the conditions those girls from Sove were in. It had been so many years since then, but it still affected him to that day.

  “Yeah, I get that.” He stopped, stepping aside to gesture to Leon.

  “This is Leon, he’s gonna help us today.” He explained. Zoe nodded.

  “I suppose I should invite y’all inside.” She said, motioning toward the door. They followed her in, the cool air conditioning hitting them full force right off the bat. There were a few people standing in the lobby, a woman stood at the desk with her baby cradled in her arms as the receptionist gave her a package, a man stood by the window, flirting with a young blonde woman who reminded Leon of Natalya. Zoe waved at the receptionist before pressing the button on the elevator.

  “Hey Zoe. Is everything okay? I heard some screaming last night and-”

  “Yeah, Lana, everything’s fine. Jolene had another one of those nightmares.” Lana went silent, looking down at the page on her desk before looking back up at Zoe and the two strange men behind her.

  “Okay, well, tell her I said hi.” She said, eyeing the men suspiciously. Zoe gave a thin-lipped smile as her and the two men entered the elevator.

  “I will.” She said as she waved at Lana, the doors quickly closing on her. Leon and Chris stood silently, not bothering to ask Zoe who that was as they rode the elevator. It rose with a low hum, one that would make a person slightly nervous. The apartments, which looked nice on the outside, were a bit lacking on the inside. Almost everything was outdated, but the tenants managed. Zoe and Jolene didn’t mind due to the low tech of their own houses back in the day. The elevator dinged and Zoe led Leon and Chris to her door. They could hear faint groaning inside.

  When she opened the door, the were met with the sight of Jolene laying on the couch, writhing in pain with her hands on her abdomen. She groaned again, feeling another jolt of pain rush through her body. Zoe gestured to her girlfriend.

  Chris walked over to her first, kneeling down to her level like he had done when he first met her.

  “Hey kid, it’s me.” He said quietly. She smiled a pained smile.

  “Redfield?”

  “We’re gonna take you back to the base, okay? They’ll take care of you there.” He told her and she nodded. She seemed to be in a daze, but that could easily be attributed to the pain. Chris grabbed Jolene, which caused her to panic.

  “N-no!” She shouted, causing Chris to freeze. He looked over at Zoe who sighed.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “Please don’t touch me.” Jolene begged. Chris lifted his hands up and Jolene stared at them with wide, fearful eyes.

  “She’s been like this ever since we left. I haven’t been able to kiss her since that first day, only hold her hand.” She stopped. Chris walked over to her and Zoe whispered in his ear.

  “I think it’s cause of what Lucas did to her.” She explained. Chris nodded understandingly.

  “Jolene, do you think you can walk?” She sat up, breathing heavily.

  “Maybe…”

  “Then come one. We have somewhere to be.” Chris told her, and she obliged. She slowly moved her legs off of the couch, hissing in pain as another shockwave came over her.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

  Veronica picked up her phone again, her fingers grazing across the buttons on the receiver. She paused for a moment, trying to remember Dr. Greene’s number before eventually looking at her computer so she could look it up in the database. She wondered, as she typed in the doctor’s name, if anything would actually come up. Dr. Greene was very secretive; very little was known about her personal life or life before working there, other than the fact that she used to work at the old Umbrella, like almost every person there.

  Eventually, she found her information and scanned it for her number. She hoped that it was the right number considering the fact that she moves around a lot and changes her number. It was almost suspicious, if not for the fact that when this is brought up she explains that her phone bill got too high and she changed providers. Nobody found her to be unapproachable, and she always seemed to be up for a conversation.

  Veronica dialed the number quickly and waited through the ringing patiently. A tired voice answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Dr. Greene? This is Veronica from our Dulvey facility.”

  “Oh, hello Veronica.” The doctor’s voice was gleeful and light, yet the emotion seemed to be false. It didn’t sit well with Veronica, but she went on, trying to convince herself that it was just her imagination; that it was just an effect of being so tired.

  “Yes, hello. I’m sorry to be such a bother at this hour but… it seems one of the survivors of the Baker incident is rejecting the serum. I’ve-”

  “Which one?” She cut in harshly. Veronica froze, taken aback by the sudden outburst from the mild mannered doctor.

  “I, uh… why is that important?” She heard the creaks of a mattress as the doctor moved on the other line, presumably to sit up.

  “Well, three of the four survivors were women. Mia, Zoe, and Jolene. Ethan was the only male survivor, and if he’s rejecting the serum that means that a new cure has to be manufactured to treat men who are infected. But if it’s one of the girls, that simply means that the cure might need to be tailored to the individual needs.” Dr. Greene explained, sounding fascinated by the whole situation. Veronica furrowed her eyebrows.

  “It was one of the girls, ma’am. Jolene West.” The line went silent and she waited for the doctor’s response anxiously.

  “I’m on my way. With her there are so many reasons why she’s rejecting it. If she even is rejecting it.” The bed creaked again as she got up.

  “Veronica, would you mind booking me a flight. I know you have my card information on that computer of yours, and I assume you know how to get things to charge it through the computer.”

  “I actually don’t.” Dr. Greene chuckled.

  “That’s fine! Just click the numbers and it should take you to my bank account, then right click and a dozen options should come up due to our software.” Veronica followed her instructions and was shocked when it worked.

  “Then click ‘Use for Purchases’ and it should be set. Don’t worry about the airline just get me that ticket.” Her voice became slightly malicious toward the end, but Veronica just thought it was the doctor getting excited about the possible research she could conduct. Dr. Greene hung up, and Veronica placed the phone back on the receiver.

  When the girls were brought to their temporary base that was set up next to the Baker property, Dr. Greene attended to Jolene. She administered the serum to her and even waited for her to wake up. Dr. Greene cared about the girl, especially after seeing the condition she was in. Jolene had stayed in the temporary base, along with Zoe, until Dr. Greene gave the OK for her to go. She really was in horrible condition.

  Veronica found the earliest flight to Dulvey and quickly purchased the ticket before calling Dr. Greene back to inform her of it. After she hung up for the second time she continued her work on the computer: tracking messages that were sent from The Connections.

 

2

 

  Dr. Greene arrived at the Dulvey facility at exactly 11 o’clock in the morning.

  The sun was almost at its optimum position in the sky and the heat was almost unforgiving already. She opened the door to the cab, placing her sunglasses over her eyes as she squinted to look around at the facility. A harsh, warm breeze came through, roaring in her ears and whipping her hair in all sorts of directions. She paid the driver and closed the door. The driver left swiftly, his tires screeching as he left. Dr. Greene put her hand above her eyes to give even more cover from the sun. She stared at the rather large building that stood before her, behind a gate with two guards standing on either side of it.

  She approached them with a bubbly attitude and a wide smile before grabbing her I.D. to show. They took a brief glance at it before looking back at her and she lifted her sunglasses without hesitation now that she was in the shade. She smirked.

  “Sorry, I dyed my hair shortly after this was done.” She said, shaking her I.D. in the process. The two men stood back. One waved and the gate began to slowly open. She flashed them a quick smile as she waltzed through the gates. A few people stood there, waiting to see her. The first three she could easily identify as Chris Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy, and Zoe Baker. The fourth person she presumed was Veronica from the phone.

  “Hey Ivy.” Chris greeted. Ivy shook his hand, her smile faltering.

  “I’d appreciate it if you’d refer to me as Dr. Greene, we aren’t in Raccoon City anymore, thank heavens.”

  “Ya knew each other?” Asked Zoe. Chris smiled.

  “She was a doctor at the RPD, she was called in to examine bodies, but most of the time she was there to patch up the S.T.A.R.S team.” He laughed. Ivy smiled, nodding along and remembering her time at the RPD fondly. Zoe didn’t say anything.

  “Too bad her boyfriend was no good though.” Chris muttered, causing Ivy to look at him from the side of her eye.

  “I didn’t know about that.” She asserted. She had a certain edge to her voice as she spoke, especially about him. Chris knew this, yet decided to go on anyway.

  “I know. I’m just messing with you.”

  “But what he did isn’t something to joke about!” She spat. This silenced everyone. She turned her attention to Leon.

  “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Dr. Ivy Greene. Were you helping during the Baker incident or-”

  “I was just hired. I heard about the stuff here, pretty serious stuff. If I knew then I probably would have helped.” Leon said. Ivy smiled warmly again.

  “Although, it is a bit weird seeing Umbrella do something good.”

  “Yes, well it was a struggle.” Ivy began as she walked toward the door. Everyone crowded around her, following her and watching as she spoke.

  “I was at Umbrella, the pharmaceutical company, for about… ten years before realizing what was going on. Then I left for the RPD, which my boyfriend at the time had suggested I do since he was going there as well.” She explained. Zoe, who was too young to remember the incident in Raccoon City, listened intently. She was interested by the topic, considering it was still talked about to this day, yet she was too young to even know what was going on.

  “But of course, things went to hell there and I was left with nothing. So when this Umbrella was founded back in 2007, I was, of course, skeptical. I didn’t join until late 2009, maybe even 2010, but even then they were having problems. The name Umbrella just… it was ruined. Nobody wanted to trust another Umbrella, and I’m sure the secrecy of this operation didn’t help. As a matter of fact, I don’t think they trust us now, either.” She finished. She knew that everyone else who was there, save for Zoe, understood what she was talking about perfectly. If anyone could relate to not trusting Umbrella, it was Leon and Chris. However, there was one thing that threw Leon off, one thing that brought up something that was in the back of his mind since 2005.

  “You said that you had a boyfriend who worked in the RPD?”

  “Yes. He was a S.T.A.R.S member.” She stated, sounding a bit aloof. She really didn’t want to talk about this, she rarely ever did. It brought out the worst in her, and she really didn’t want the worst in her to come out, not then.

  “Oh. Would you-”

  “I’m not answering anymore questions about him. It isn’t important and it’s in the past.” She interrupted. Leon stood there, unsure of how to respond to her.

  “Uh, sorry.” He muttered. But he couldn’t shake it, the thoughts about the note that was stashed in the back of an empty desk years ago. The one with I.G. printed on it. The I.G. he assumed killed Natalya all those years ago. It couldn’t have been Ivy? Could it?

 

3

 

  Jolene laid on an examination table, her hands clutching at her lower abdomen, writhing in pain. The lights gave the room a blue-ish hue. It was chilly in the room, but Jolene couldn’t even think of getting underneath a blanket. Sweat dripped down her forehead and back, soaking her clothes and making her hair stick to her face. The pain was severely worse than before, and with each wave of pain that came over she felt herself get light headed, as if she were going to pass out. She would breathe heavily after each cramp.

  The first person to enter the room was Zoe, who looked just as beautiful to Jolene as she had been before the incident with Eveline. She tried to sit up, but the motion only brought on another wave of pain. She fell backward, arching her back off of the table in pain. Zoe rushed over immediately, her hands immediately went to her forehead, which felt like fire on her hands. Jolene let out a strangled cry; it sounded like a woman was giving birth in the room.

  Ivy ran through the door, joining Zoe at Jolene’s bedside. She looked over Jolene’s pale, squirming body and got a sense of what she had to do. She swatted Zoe’s hands away from her forehead and arm and replaced them with her own, feeling the heat radiating off of the girl’s body herself.

  “Oh god.” Ivy muttered to herself. She turned to Zoe, a fierceness present in her green eyes.

  “Go get my bag.” Zoe complied and grabbed Ivy’s bag, which was filled with an assortment of things. There were mostly clothes, but there were also a few notebooks.

  “Bring it over! Stay with her.” She demanded, taking the bag from Zoe’s hands and rooting through it. She took out a red notebook and quickly flipped through the pages.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before…” She murmured. Zoe couldn’t hear her over the screams and cries of Jolene. Ivy rushed to Zoe and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “Wait with her while I set some stuff up.” She then turned around toward the cabinets and began to search them. When she had what she needed, she handed it to Zoe.

  “I’m not sure it’ll work, considering this is all new, but try giving her this sedative. It’ll help when I scan her.” She told her while placing the sedative in her palm. Zoe looked down at the syringe, then back up at Dr. Greene.

  “Put it in her upper arm, and be careful. You don’t want to lose any of that, you’ll need the full dosage.” She told her before departing, leaving Zoe staring at the closing door with Jolene behind her, crying in agony.

  “I’m sorry, Jo.” She apologized softly. She could see the tears in the corner of her eye as she got closer. She placed her cold hand on her shoulder, holding her down the best she could while she administered the sedative. She plunged the needle into Jolene’s bare arm and released the liquid into her.

  Her skin felt like it was on fire as it coursed through her veins. She looked over at Zoe, her teeth clenched as she tried to muffle another scream. Her eyes felt heavy after a few moments. Her thoughts became fuzzy. The pain began to numb.

  Dr. Greene rushed back in just as Jolene was falling asleep, and the last thing she remembered was being wheeled down a hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

   Jolene woke up to an unfamiliar room full of familiar faces. Zoe sat the closest to her, her hand was placed over her own protectively, Ethan sat with Mia, Redfield was beside them and next to Dr. Greene. She gave a small smile, despite the slight pain she felt. The sedative was beginning to wear off, and she was beginning to feel again. Zoe gave her hand a gentle squeeze and she flashed a comforting smile. It was weird, seeing Ethan and Mia and Redfield again, considering she hadn’t seen them since the Baker house. It was comforting knowing that they made it out.

  “Good morning, Jolene.” Dr. Greene spoke. Jolene looked over at her.

  “What happened?”

  “Well, I assume you know that you were having a little episode. We had to sedate you so I could take a scan of you and pinpoint the problem… and uh.” Ivy stopped, looking around.

  “I think it’s best if you all leave, except for Zoe. I’d assume she’d want to hear this too. I enjoyed talking with you Ethan, Mia, it’s a relief to know that Jolene’s the only one rejecting the serum.” Ivy stated.

  “Yeah, you too.” Ethan said, he took his wife’s hand and they walked out together. Redfield looked at Jolene, giving her a small smile before leaving. She felt awkward, like they all knew something she didn’t. It felt as if she was going to die and they weren’t telling her yet. She looked at Dr. Greene, who had shifted her focus to the computer on the desk.

  “Jolene, I hate to bring this up but… there seems to be mold that we missed in…” She trailed off, finding it hard to find the right words. Jolene immediately became concerned by Dr. Greene’s tone.

  “I don’t think. I don’t know how to say this, Jolene.” She continued. Jolene felt tears stinging in her eyes.

  “It has somethin’ to do with what happened in the mines, doesn’t it?” Jolene asked, holding back tears. Ivy sighed and brought up the scans.

  “We had to do an ultrasound because of what Zoe had told me. From what she could tell, the pain came from your lower abdomen. We found a substantial amount of mold there.” Ivy explained. Jolene finally burst into tears, knowing exactly what this meant. Zoe placed her hand on her shoulder. She knew that Jolene was uncomfortable with hugging or anything like that. She didn’t mind shoulder touches or hand holding, but anything too intimate was too much for her to handle. She would be reminded of what happened to her, but now there was no running from it.

  “It’s fine. It doesn’t look like you’re pregnant, but the mold has to be manually removed. We can schedule you for surgery later today, but we’ll have to keep you here for a few days just to make sure we got all of it.”

  “Okay.” Jolene whispered. Ivy stood up, closing out of the images and signing out of the computer.

  “I’ll leave you two alone.” She said as she left.

  Jolene let out another sob, she buried her face in her hands. It was overwhelming. She tried so hard to get away from what happened in the mines. She wanted to forget, to move on with her life but she knew she never could. Zoe stood up.

  “I can’t fuckin’ believe it. That asshole is still…” Jolene let out a small whine.

  “He’s still ruinin’ my life! After all this, and I can’t forget! I can’t move on with my life!” She shouted. She had finally reached a breaking point. She was angry-no-beyond angry, infuriated even. She groaned slightly, feeling her abdomen throb with pain again. Now, instead of thinking of the pain itself, she’d be stuck thinking about what caused it. It would haunt her til the day she died, especially considering the fact that she’ll have a scar after the surgery. Jolene whined again.

  “I just wanna go home an’ lay in bed all day. I don’t wanna be here, I don’t wanna deal with this.” She cried, her voice sounding completely and utterly defeated. Zoe felt a pang of guilt at the sight of her. She knew that it wasn’t her fault, but she felt like she could have helped Jolene, she could have gotten her out of the mines if she tried harder, then they could have stayed together in her trailer. Yet she remembered that Jolene had mentioned in the tape that she was cured. Obviously she was cured from the hive mind, but not from the infection itself.

  “We can’t go home. We’re gonna get you fixed up, then we can go.” She said. She desperately wanted to hug her, but refrained from doing so. Jolene looked up at her, her eyes puffy and red.

  “I know. I’m just sick of it. The nightmares, the flashbacks. Everything.” She said.

 

2

 

  Ethan sat in a room with Chris. Mia sat beside him, she was quiet. The room was quiet. Chris had something he wanted to say, a proposition. He knew that the same idea would be brought up to both Zoe and Jolene, but he wouldn’t be the one bringing it up to them.

  “So, guys.” He began. Mia looked over at him.

  “This sector of Umbrella’s looking to recruit the survivors of the Baker incident. They said that you guys are experienced enough to deal with the molded that might pop up in other places around Dulvey.”

  “Oh I don’t know about that…” Mia trailed off. Ethan shook his head.

  “They’re calling it the Dulvey operation. And considering that some of you have useful mutations…”

  “We’ll consider. I don’t think I would be right for it, but Mia might be able to help.” Ethan stated. Mia smiled slightly. She didn’t feel as if she would be useful, considering the fact that she wasn’t completely in control of herself back then. It was all Eveline.

  Zoe came into the room soon after their conversation had ended. She held her upper arm like she always did. She smiled slightly at the sight of Ethan and Mia. She would never admit it aloud, but she still felt a bit of bitterness toward the two from what had happened. She couldn’t blame Ethan though, of course he would have chosen his wife over her.

  “How’s Jolene?” Chris asked. Zoe looked over at him, surprised by his voice, like she had completely forgotten he was there. She took a deep breath.

  “She has to go into surgery later today. Turns out they missed a spot…” She trailed off, taking a seat next to Chris. He saw the solemn look on her face, and he knew why this was happening. He placed a hand on Zoe’s back, trying his best to comfort her.

  “It’ll be okay, Zoe. We have that bastard in custody, we’ll make sure he pays.” He said to her. Zoe looked up, her eyes wide.

  “He’s still alive?” She asked, shock and anger present in her voice. The room went silent for a few moments.

  “They didn’t want me to kill him. I was running out of time and Jolene needed help. I took her to Dr. Greene and they sent a different team in to retrieve Lucas. I… I was so close to killing him, but she needed help.”

  “So he’s here?” Zoe muttered. Chris nodded. She went to get up, which prompted Chris to grab her arm. She looked down at him, fury in her eyes. He felt the urge to back off, but couldn’t. Ethan and Mia sat in silence, but they could feel the tension in the room.

  “Don’t do this.” He told her. She shook her head.

  “I just wanna talk to ‘im.”

  “I can’t let you do that.” She jerked her arm, but nothing happened.

  “Let go of me, Chris!” She shouted, causing him to let go. She stomped toward the door, but stopped, placing her hand on the doorknob. She looked back at them.

  “I just wanna know why he did it. That’s all. I have to do this.” And with that, she left.

 

3

 

  Leon was bored. They had sent him home after Dr. Greene arrived, saying that they didn’t need him for the rest of the day. He knew he wasn’t fired, considering that missions took time, they weren’t all lined up for him. He looked down at his phone, reading the time, before placing it back in his pocket.

  He sat in the outside seating area of a quaint little café. There were only a few people at neighboring tables chatting away behind him, but it was all white noise to him. He sat by the black fencing that boxed in the property, leaning on the table and staring blankly at the sky.

  The sun was finally beginning to set, the sky was turning brilliant shades of pink and purple, but he wasn’t ready to leave just yet. He lived in a different state, and there was no way he was going to leave just to get called back down there. He had a bad feeling about the whole situation, and if Jolene was still infected, she could have already caused a city-wide outbreak, they just didn’t know it yet. Perhaps it was just his experience that was causing him to think this way. He just didn’t want another repeat of Raccoon City.

  People walked along the streets, on the sidewalk, walking right past him. He watched them, finding it interesting. Some people were talking on the phone, others talking with each other. He took a sip of the drink he had ordered, leaning back in his chair as he tried to relax. He figured he’d wait for Chris to come back and then he’d ask to crash with him for a few nights. Only until he was sure nothing would go wrong.

  Then he saw her. A woman. She looked strikingly familiar, with sad-looking icy blue eyes and pale skin. Her long, straight auburn hair was peeking out from underneath the hoodie she wore. Leon leaned forward, stunned by the sight of the woman. He quickly finished what was left of his drink and got up, digging through his pocket for a ten-dollar bill to leave as a tip. He then went inside so he could leave through the front door.

  She was already imprinted in his head, and he found himself comparing her to the only other woman that would fit that description. He knew it was impossible, too much time had gone by, but there was always a chance that she was her. That she was hiding somewhere, and he just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He knew, deep down, that he needed to move on, that doing something like this wasn’t healthy. Even if he accepted that she wasn’t her, if he ended up with this mystery woman, he knew he would project this image onto her, one that he had prevented himself from projecting onto Ada or anyone else.

  He pushed people out of the way as he began to sprint down the street. She paid no mind to the shouts of protest and anger behind her, she just kept walking. However, she knew he was following her. Finally, he had reached her, and he stood beside her for a moment. She didn’t say anything to him, but he spoke to her.

  “Nat?” He muttered. She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

  “Do I know you?” She asked with a thick accent. He felt his heart swell in a way he hadn’t felt in years. He smiled.

  “It’s me, Leon.” She shook her head, this time turning to look at him, and he saw it again. She looked exactly like Natalya, sounded like her too.

  “I think you’re mistaken.” She stated simply.

  “Nat-”

  “Look, you seem nice but, I don’t know you. Please, just leave me alone.” She said before walking away a bit faster than before. She didn’t know who he was, but he seemed familiar. It was almost as if she had seen him in a dream, it was faint and fuzzy, but she had seen him before.

  She began to remember something, a memory. A man, much younger than the one who had followed her down the street-but still similar looking-was standing before her. She saw sadness on his features; pain. He was saying something, but she couldn’t hear him. He had taken her hand in his (or did she take his hand, it was hard for her to tell) and he continued to say something. His voice was muffled by that time.

  Leon stood there, watching the woman he had loved walk away for a second time. He knew it was her, sure, she looked like her, but she sounded like her too. She had an accent, a Russian accent.

  He wanted to find her again, he just wanted to talk to her, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it.


	4. Chapter 4

  He sat there, staring at Zoe from behind the glass. It took everything in her not to break the glass and use it to slit his throat. After everything he had done, before and after the infection, and he was still alive. Not their parents; no, him. Their parents were good people who were taken advantage of, but him? He was always awful. Somehow, it was only him and her left.

  He sat there, a smirk present on his bruised and bloodied face. It was interesting, considering the fact that he had supposedly mutated beyond hope of returning to his original form. His bones were broken, she could see that from a few casts that were on various parts of his body, but she knew that they’d heal quickly.

  “I hope it hurt when ya went back.”

  “Oh, it did. Hurt like a motherfucker.” He replied. Zoe clenched her fist.

  “I can’t tell you how mad it made me to here that **_you_** , of all people, made it.” She told him, which prompted a full blown smile.

  “I know that Jolene got shot, but tell me, did she make it?” He asked, his tone masking the actual worry in his voice. Zoe glared at him.

  “Yeah. She did. No thanks to _you_.” She said to him. He leaned back, the smirk never faltering. She wanted to kill him, to end this, but she knew that there were people watching her closely. She had to go through quite a process just to get in there, and even after all that they still made sure that there were guards in the room with her. She didn’t blame them, The Connections were still out there and living large after all, and they didn’t know who could be spying or not.

  “Does she still think of me? Ya know, in that way that’ll make her squirm under ya? Do ya even do that? I mean, I would hate it if I ruined that for ya, she’s a beast in bed.” Zoe cut him off by banging her hand on the glass.

  “That’s none of yer damn business!” She yelled. The guards clamored around her, one grabbing onto her arm. She looked over at him and stepped away from the glass, closing her eyes for a moment to calm herself. The guards stepped away from her, but didn’t move too far from her. Her cold, grey eyes looked back at Lucas, who seemed to have been enjoying her little outburst.

  “Ya don’t get to talk about her that way. Ya hear me?” She said to him, venom dripping from her words as she spoke them. He smiled widely, revealing a few missing teeth in the process.

  “Deal.”

  The room went silent for a few moments. Zoe stood there, listing off every little thing he had done wrong in his life, while he sat there, thinking of ways to get under her skin. He just wanted to get out of there, but he had to wait for the right time. There were people in Umbrella that were going to help him get out of there and to The Connections, but he had to wait. Patience wasn’t always his best attribute though. He knew that within a few hours, he’d be fine, and maybe then he could break out on his own and take back what he wanted. Not only because he wanted her, but because they needed her for a special plan.

  “Why’d ya do it?” Zoe asked, her voice breaking. Lucas tilted his head.

  “I have no idea what yer talkin’ about.” He tried playing dumb, but Zoe wasn’t having it. She clenched her fist again and took a step forward.

  “You know _damn_ well what I’m talkin’ about! Why did ya do it to her? Why her? She was nothin’ but nice to ya when everyone else ran away from ya and that’s how ya repaid her? She’s hurtin’ real bad right now, she has to go into surgery ‘cause of what you did!” Zoe shouted. Lucas stared at her again with eyes devoid of any emotion or empathy. He didn’t want to tell her, because she would become infuriated. She would probably kill him right then and there, not caring about what would happen to her afterward.

  He gave a simple shrug.

  “Why wouldn’t I?” He asked, covering his tracks. Zoe knew he was hiding something from her, and she was going to find out what it was.

  “Ma’am, your time is up.” One of the guards told her. She looked over her shoulder at them and nodded before turning her attention back to Lucas.

  “I know yer lyin’ to me, an’ when I find out what yer hidin’ I swear to god, I won’t hold back.” She threatened. Lucas didn’t react, he simply sat back, smiling as she was escorted out of the room.

 

2

 

  Jolene awoke in her own little room at the base. She squinted her eyes at the sight of the bright fluorescent lights, which were nearly blinding to her. She looked to her side to see Dr. Greene typing away on her laptop, muttering to herself about something. Jolene attempted to sit up. Pain shot all throughout her lower body, which caused her to groan. Ivy looked up at her, her eyes wide, and quickly shut her laptop. She stood and made her way to Jolene.

  She placed a hand on her back and took her hand before gently lowering her onto the bed. Jolene smiled at her gratefully.

  “I’m glad to see you’re awake, although I didn’t expect you to wake up so quickly.” Ivy stated.

  “Perhaps it has something to do with your mutation… hm.” Ivy murmured. Jolene furrowed her eyebrows.

  “Ya mean I still have those?” Jolene asked. Ivy was already heading back to her laptop, which she promptly opened and signed into.

  “Of course.”

  “But the cure-”

  “The cure doesn’t affect the mutations that had already developed. You still have your claws and tail and healing powers, and the cure won’t take that away, it merely got rid of the mold in your body.” Ivy explained. Jolene looked down.

  “Clearly not all of it.”

  “Jolene, I don’t think that was there all along. Zoe and Mia didn’t have mold hosting itself in their wombs, it was only you. I think it’s an effect of two infected people having unprotected sex, I don’t think the infected are fertile, which, I haven’t broken the news to Mia and Ethan yet.” She stopped.

  “But that’s not the important part. I think, in theory, the mold attaching itself to your womb was a way to spread itself. I believe that’s the way an infected person becomes pregnant, not with a child, but with more mold. Perhaps it births a different strain each time, which creates its own separate race of molded creatures, but we won’t know because we don’t want an outbreak on that level.” Ivy finished, leaving Jolene feeling sick again. Ivy watched her reaction closely, making sure that she was handling the news well.

  “So yer sayin’ that all of that was because I got pregnant with… more… mold?” She asked, completely bewildered by the idea. Ivy nodded.

  “I believe so.” Ivy told her. She looked down again, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe it. Ivy stood up again, making her way over to Jolene’s bed where she sat beside her.

  “We’ve saved the mold we recovered from the surgery. We’re going to test on it, find out why it was there.” Jolene didn’t respond.

  “It’ll be okay, Jolene. The surgery was successful and we managed to clear it out. I suppose I should have started with that. I mean, we still have to keep you here, but it’s only for your safety. We wouldn’t want you walking out of here just for it to start back up again.” Ivy stated. Jolene nodded.

  “I’m glad we’re on the same page here. We’re only here to help you, if you’d allow it.” Ivy finished. She then got up to leave, closing up her laptop once more. Jolene had so many more questions to ask, but most of them weren’t for Ivy. She let her leave.

  Now Jolene laid in her bed, waiting for Zoe to come back. She wanted to cry again, but she wouldn’t allow herself to do it. She was healed for the mean time, and she’d have to wait to see what happened next.

 

3

 

   Ivy had taken the container into the lab with her. The mold made interesting noises as it was jostled around. It made awful, wet sounding noises that Ivy knew would probably keep her up at night. She looked down at it, smiling to herself over the discovery.

  The lab was dark, upon Ivy’s request. She also requested that she’d be alone in the labs, as she had done many times before. She felt she could focus better alone, without the sounds of other scientists rushing around her or breathing down her neck to see a reaction. With any luck, she’d be able to accomplish what she wanted to within a few hours, a day at most. It was eerily quiet in the labs, and only a few red lights could be seen glowing in the darkness from the computers. A single desk lamp was on in the corner, where Ivy would be working. She quickly made her way toward the light and placed the mold just outside of the light’s reach.

  She grabbed a pen and a notebook before turning her attention back to the container. Before taking the top off of the container, she looked inside to make sure it hadn’t been expelling any spores on its own, and took the top off when she realized the coast was clear.

  She stopped for a moment to review her notes.

_The Molded:_

_Infection can be achieved through two ways:_

_-prolonged contact_

_-The ingestion or inhalation of spores_

_Symptoms related to infection may vary from person to person. Most people, however, will begin to hear voices initially, due to the hive mind shared by the infected. There is normally someone who was initially infected, and they serve as the center of the hive mind i.e. E-001._

_Mutations occur almost immediately, but the person will forget they were ever infected in the first place, essentially relapsing to their past selves from hours before infection. The symptoms will come and go before reaching a second stage, where they become completely under control of the Initial Infected._

_Mutations vary as well, but so far I’ve been able to record a trend in the mutations; mutations that all subjects seemed to adopt._

_These are as follows:_

_-Enhanced healing:_

_A person could have an arm or leg removed and grow it back in only a few hours. Perhaps even reattach limbs with the right chemicals._

_-Enhanced strength_

_The I.I. (Initial Infected) can spread the Mold, thus making the I.I. the infectee for most cases of the infected. The I.I. would have to have been infected by the company manufacturing the mold, but all others infected are done by the I.I., who, most of the time, will be fixated on one goal. In the case of E-001, she fixated on having a family._

  Ivy then turned to the nearest blank page and got to work.

 

4

 

  Leon saw her again, a few days later, and actually had a conversation with her. She was just as beautiful and intelligent as he remembered her being. She might not have remembered him, but he remembered her like he had lost her only a week ago. She seemed a lot more open to him this time. They talked for a couple of hours over a drink or two, but he could tell there was something off with her.

  “So you came here to apologize? Just to apologize?” She mused, her voice hiding her suspicion and distrust. Leon laughed, smiling.

  “Yeah. I just… I thought you were someone else.” He lied. She stared at him, as if she had caught him in the lie. Her blue eyes shined with something that was unreadable; they seemed so unsure, so untrusting. She was suspicious of him, of course, but he was determined to get her to remember.

  “You knew my name. I never tell anyone my name but you knew it.” She stated bluntly. Leon took another sip of his drink before flashing a smile, and she felt one of those moments come over her again. She saw that smile before, it belonged to a man from her dreams, one that looked like him but much younger. It unnerved her.

  Out of everything she’d seen and endured, she wouldn’t have been surprised if he had found a way to project himself into her dreams. For all she knew, he could have been working for someone who was after her. He could be setting her up, trying to get her to believe that she knew him so he could take her back to those monsters.

  “Her name was Nat, too.”

  “Sure it was.” She said while placing her glass down on the table. It made a loud _CLINK_ noise as it hit the wooden counter. She placed enough money down for both of their drinks, and Leon immediately assumed she had been in the area longer than he supposed. She looked at him, annoyance faintly present on her face.

  “Come on. You’re taking me to your place.” She demanded. He stood, but didn’t follow her out. When she realized this, she turned around, fury bubbling beneath her skin.

  “What happened? I thought you liked following me.” She quipped. He smiled, looking down as he chuckled to himself.

  “I just… I’m not from around here. I don’t have a place. I’m crashing with a friend.” He explained. She rolled her eyes.

  “Then take me there.” She told him. He looked around, considering if this was a good idea or not. He wanted her more than anything in the world, despite the fact that she might not be the real Natalya. He walked over to her and then to the door, this time leaving her behind, slightly bewildered.

  “You wanted to come back with me, right?”

   She followed him out the door.


	5. Chapter 5

  Leon held her in his arms as they laid on the sofa bed. It was quiet and dark in the apartment. The only light came from the street lights outside and through the large window beside them. The curtains covering it were thin and veil-like, which allowed more light to shine through no matter the time of day. The window could be opened, and led out to a nice balcony over the city streets with a black, metal railing. It was late at night, meaning there was barely any commotion outside.

  It was rather warm in the room, but Leon supposed it was just because he was warm. He looked down at her, checking whether she was asleep or not. Her icy eyes met his, and he knew in that moment that something was missing. She seemed angry, and he wasn’t sure what to do. He began to sit up, slowly moving his arm out from underneath her. She made a small noise of protest but moved anyway. She set herself up in the corner of the sofa bed, between the arm of the couch and the cushion. She pulled the sheet up to her chest, holding it against her to shield herself. She watched as Leon pulled sweatpants on so he could open the window. She wanted to leave.

  A warm breeze blew into the room, causing the curtains to flutter into the room gracefully. She watched him closely as he looked outside. The whole city seemed to be illuminated, even in the nighttime.

  “You should come see this.” He breathed. She remained seated. He looked back at her again, and, despite her expression, he felt his breath being taken away. She looked beautiful, as she always did in his eyes. She had pulled back her fire-colored hair into a loose bun, and the white sheets complimented her complexion perfectly.

  “I figured I’d get going.” She muttered as she began to get off of the bed. Leon didn’t move to stop her, instead he just watched. It hurt, hearing those words come from her, but he figured it would happen at some point. She grabbed her shorts and pulled them up before pulling her shirt over her head. She began to move toward the dining room, but Leon spoke up, stopping her in her tracks.

  “Can I get your number?” He asked, completely ignoring all logic and reason. She turned around, giving him a bewildered look.

  “I thought I already gave you what you wanted.” She stated, voicing no doubt in her words. Leon furrowed his eyebrows at this and moved away from the balcony.

  “What?”

  “You’re a stalker. I figured if I gave you what you wanted you’d stop following me.” She told him. He laughed loudly, which frightened her. She didn’t expect that reaction out of him, and his laugh was slightly frightening in itself. She began to back away slowly, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

  However, there was a part of her that felt the urge to give him her number. Not because she was scared or anything, but because she felt that she could trust him. Deep down, as much as she hated to admit it, she knew that those fuzzy memories weren’t dreams. She knew what they were, even if she couldn’t exactly place when they happened to her. She remembered who she was when she woke up, mostly because she was told who she was, but that was it. What happened to her before she fell asleep? She had no clue. Yet, she knew that he was there beforehand, and he had tried his best to help her. That much she could tell from those little visions.

  She sighed and walked over to the table, where her jacket was. Leon seemed to immediately snap out of it, and suddenly the room went quiet. She looked over at him and flashed a small smile.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not leaving yet.” She reassured him. She rolled her eyes at herself, finding it hard to believe that she was actually doing this, but her intuition told her to. She found the nearest pen and paper and quickly scribbled down her number.

  “I don’t give this out often, I can’t afford to. So don’t take this lightly.” She said as she handed it over. He was actually shocked by this, and gave her a look. She smiled slightly.

  “My intuition was telling me to do it. I better be right about you.” She told him.

  “I’m not a stalker-”

  “Not that!” She interrupted before checking the time.

  “I should go.” She whispered, not looking Leon in the eyes. He wanted to say something, he wanted to tell her about what had happened over twenty years ago. Knowing how she messed with his head, the fact that this might push her away farther didn’t cross his mind, and he spoke without thinking again.

  “Hey, wait.” He began. She stopped again, returning to stand in front of him.

  “I know that you don’t remember me.” She rolled her eyes and felt the urge to run away again, just so she didn’t have to listen to this speech. She stayed, despite what she was feeling.

  “And I don’t know how long it’ll be until you do. I know I’m confusing you right now, and you still probably think I’m crazy… but we knew each other. I don’t know how it happened, but you’re back now.”

  “I never went anywhere.”

  “You died, Nat.” He said. Those words echoed in her ears. She felt her emotions become overwhelming as she thought about it. It wasn’t possible, was it? She couldn’t have died? She was just in a coma. She was in a coma for nearly eight years. She went to walk away again, this time to get away from this. It was a fact that she didn’t want to consider. She felt tears in her eyes.

  “Wait-”

  “No! You don’t know me, stop acting like you do. If I did remember you, I would have told you! I don’t. I don’t know you!” She screamed. He took a deep breath and waited.

  “Just promise me one thing.”

  “What is it?” She asked, her voice still angry.

  “If you do remember, come find me. Come back here if you can’t.” He said in a voice barely above a whisper. She had heard his voice like that before, but it wasn’t from the past few days. She felt a dull, aching feeling in her chest, on that resembled sadness. She nodded.

  “Fine. I promise.” She told him before leaving. She didn’t expect to remember anything about him or what he was telling her, so she agreed, hoping he would leave her alone until she remembered.

 

2

 

  Lucas was laying down on the floor. The chair he was sitting in had been moved away from the glass separating him from the outside world and into the corner of the room. It was a foldable chair and it was laying on the ground, its metal cold and forgotten. He stared at the ceiling, wondering how long it would take for the mole to break him out of there. His conversation with Zoe echoed through his head, and he felt his impatience melt into anger.

  He wanted out of that damn cell. He wanted to make a little detour, a pit stop if you will, and pay a little visit to Zoe. His job wasn’t done. It was weird, though, the way he had been thinking. While he did want to hurt others, he had become fixated on making Jolene’s life a living hell. He was obsessed with the idea of making her miserable, it pleased him. The thought of everything that went wrong in her life being his fault was bliss to him. He felt a bittersweet love toward her, he was head over heels in his own sick way… before she began to fight back.

  The cell was quiet and dark, as it normally was at that time of day. It was lights out for him, but he knew that tomorrow they would come back in and ask stupid questions that even they knew he wouldn’t answer. He didn’t have a bed in there, but the floor was padded in case he fell over, considering his broken condition.

  It had taken longer for him to heal than usual, but he expected that. Such a transformation would have taken longer for him to recover from, but this knowledge didn’t ease the pain that came along with the healing process. On the bright side, he only had one cast left, and it was on his wrist.

  His whole body ached. His head was pounding constantly as it had to reconstruct itself from the mutation… and from when Jolene’s claws tore through his skull. He was lucky, she had barely managed to miss his brain. However, to him, she was the lucky one. He was locked away in a cell, so he couldn’t hurt her back for what she did to him.

  He heard something click in the darkness. A silhouette glided along the wall; a small, red light was in its hand, and it blinked as it moved behind the figure’s body. Lucas could tell it was a woman, she was the mole. He knew that she was there to help break him out. He sat up, chuckling quietly to himself as they opened a slot in the wall. He watched as her head turned in his direction, her long hair whipping around due to the motion.

  She shushed him, bringing a finger to her lips despite the fact that she knew he couldn’t see her. She walked away, her heels clicking and echoing off into the distance the farther away she got. She wasn’t the only one there working for The Connections, most of the guards on that night were on their payroll as well and had worked with Albert Wesker himself back in the day. Of course, the mole would only accept the best of the best on such an operation.

  Lucas suddenly felt an impulse, a feeling. He stood up and made his way over to the slot in his side of the wall, where the bomb had been placed. He figured he’d wait a few days, not weeks like The Connections wanted. He was going to break out and do what **_he_** wanted. Not The Connections. Him.


	6. Chapter 6

   “Hey Zo. Call me back when ya get this, they’re lettin’ me go. I don’t wanna walk back to the apartments alone, it’s kinda late. Love you, bye.” Jolene tapped her screen and hung up. She looked around at the empty parking lot, thinking over everything that had happened in the past week.

  It was dark and quiet outside, with only a few streetlights illuminating the empty parking lot. They buzzed loudly and attracted small gnats to flock around it. The surrounding trees rustled in the gentle breeze. It was peaceful, and that’s all Jolene could have asked for. She could see a car parked in the distance, but she knew it wasn’t there before. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, wondering if it was Zoe. Surely, she would have called Jolene to tell her she was coming, right?

  It was parked facing her and the building, with its headlights turned off. Jolene could see the distinct figure of a person in the driver’s seat from where she was standing. It was underneath a distant streetlight; its golden glow was more eerie than comforting or heavenly. The image before her looked as if it could have been a scene from the beginning of a horror movie. Trees stood on either side of the lot, reminding Jolene of how alone she really was and making the area seem even more secluded than before. If she were to run, how long would it take before she got lost in the dense forests surrounding the facility?

  Jolene began to walk toward the car in the distance. It was a dark grey car, like Zoe’s, so Jolene would have no reason to be weary of it. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she got closer to the car. She nearly jumped when it shifted. She expected to see Zoe get out of the car and laugh at her for being so ridiculous, defusing the tension of the situation in an instant. Instead, the car started, but the headlights didn’t come on immediately. Her thoughts became cloudy in that moment and she wanted to run away. Not inside; away.

  The green dashboard lights lit up his face, exaggerating the shadows on his face and making him seem even more demonic than she already saw him. He smiled widely when he noticed the change in her demeanor; she saw him. She began to back up slowly, her hands slowly moving up to protect her. She knew it was him, but she also knew that she was in no way shape or form to fight him. She was still recovering, she couldn’t fight.

  The headlights came on in a bright flash, temporarily blinding Jolene. She brought her arm up to her face to keep the light from her eyes. She heard the roar of the car’s engine and immediately felt the urge to run. For all she knew, he was going to try to hit her. She turned around and began to run back toward the facility.

  It seemed so far away. She didn’t remember walking out that far.

  The car’s tires skidded across the pavement next to her. She stopped running, fearing that the worst had already happened. The low rumbling from the engine rang loud in her ears as the car sat next to her. The tinted window rolled down, and she dared peek inside.

  He sat there, his hood pulled up over his head and both of his hands on the steering wheel, staring at her with wide eyes. He wore a white cast on his right wrist. She felt herself go cold. She wanted to run away. To shout. To shout at him in particular. She was more angry than scared at that point. He smirked at her.

  “What’s a pretty lil thang like you doin’ out here at this time of night?” He asked sarcastically. She was breathing heavily, her hands clenched into fists. He didn’t want her to turn, but he knew if he didn’t act quick she would. He didn’t say anything else, instead, he got out of the car. The door slammed loudly, drawing the attention of Veronica, who was standing inside the building watching the whole thing unfold.

  His long, clammy fingers laced around her wrist and neck. She fought him slightly, trying to rip her hand from his and kicking at him. He kicked out her knee, causing her to drop. He then let go of her neck and wrist, replacing his right hand on her neck with his left while he dug in his hoodie pocket for a bottle and white cloth. After retrieving the two items, he managed to open the bottle with his one hand and poured a bit of it on the cloth. He then dropped the bottle. It shattered into a million pieces on the concrete, glistening in the light of the streetlight and remaining liquid.

  He then pressed the cloth to her face, effectively knocking her out after a few seconds. She fell limp in his grasp, and he promptly dragged her into the passenger seat of his car.

 

2

 

  Leon had been a bit late to the briefing he was called to. His head was pounding and all the lights seemed to be a bit too bright that day. Everyone was gathered around a desk: Zoe, Chris, Ethan, Mia and Ivy. Hell, even Veronica was there. She stood beside Ivy while she spouted something about getting someone back. One thing was off about Ivy though, she wore sunglasses. It was odd, especially considering the fact that they were indoors. Leon took a deep breath and took his place next to Chris, which caught Ivy’s attention.

  “Nice of you to join us, Mr. Kennedy. I was just wrapping up here, but I suppose it’d be important for me to tell you what this is about, considering you’re going to be the leader of the rescue party.” Ivy stated in her same pompous tone. Leon furrowed his eyebrows.

  “Those are some nice shades, Dr. Greene. Why’re you wearing them inside?” Leon asked, a smirk present on his face. She stared at him, and even though her blank gaze was focused on Leon, Chris still felt uneasy because of it. He had been uncomfortable the whole time, considering there was only one other person he knew that did that; one other person who could look and speak so emotionlessly. One other person that wore sunglasses to hide something. Of course, he wasn’t entirely sure Ivy was hiding something, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling.

  “Look, I know you’re hung over but I’m going to need you to listen closely. If this fails, I’ll have your head.” She told him. He nodded.

  “Um, Dr. Greene.” She moved her head slightly to face Chris, who felt a chill run up his spine at the familiar motion. It was eerie to him, and he had to say something.

  “Speaking of the glasses, could you take them off? They’re bringing back some bad memories.”

  “As much as I’d love to, Chris, I can’t. I had my pupils dilated today.” She explained, her voice holding no emotion. Every day she seemed to become more and more like the very man she refused to speak of, whether she realized it or not. He had a bad feeling about all of this.

  “You and Zoe will be going in to rescue Jolene. Lucas broke out last night and kidnapped her, we still aren’t sure why, or at least that’s what Veronica tells me. I’ll let her explain the rest.” Veronica then stepped up.

  “He’s most likely taken her back to one of The Connections’ bases. The closest one is only a few miles away, but it’s been abandoned. We were able to track messages going from a remote island previously kept secret by a rival organization to Umbrella in the Gulf. It isn’t too far off of the coast of Texas, believe it or not. Redfield, we’re going to request Ms. Valentine to accompany you on this mission.”

  “She’s already been contacted, Veronica. I did it this morning.” Ivy interrupted. She nodded before continuing on.

  “When will she be here?”

  “Soon, hopefully. I’d like for everyone to complete their missions quickly and quietly. We’re working to take down The Connections, we can’t let them catch wind of this.” Ivy answered. Her cold gaze scanned around the room as she thought. It would have seemed as if she were figuring out everyone’s weaknesses then and there if they could see her eyes.

  “Not that I’m complaining but… why Jill? I mean, you guys haven’t shown any interest in working with her this far, so why now?” Chris asked. Ivy glanced at him for a brief moment, her face showing no emotion.

  “Because you work well with her. You both have experience with this kind of stuff, and considering the fact that this island most likely holds BOWs from before the fall of Umbrella, you two were the perfect match for the mission. And if there are mold-related BOWs, you can handle those on your own.” Ivy explained.

  “I’ve also called in Sherry Birkin and Jake Muller. They will be staying here for a few days until their mission is ready for them. We have an idea of where they’ll be going, but we aren’t completely sure on the details.” Ivy explained. Leon felt a sense of nostalgia come over him at the mention of Sherry’s name. Yet, at the same time, he was a bit worried about this. A man made his way through the group of people.

  He was young, with dark brown hair and stubble. He wore the same uniform as Chris, helmet and all. He walked up to Veronica and whispered in her ear.

  “Oh yes. I forgot. This is Freddie. He’ll be working with Ethan, Mia, and Claire.” Chris froze.

  “Claire? Claire’s helping?” He asked. Veronica nodded.

  “Yes. She’ll be disabling the remaining bases in Dulvey with them.” She told him while gesturing to Ethan, Mia, and Freddie. Freddie gave off a small smile at the mention of Claire’s name. Veronica looked at Leon and Zoe.

  “I suggest you two get suited up. You’ll be the first to leave, we need Jolene back here.” Veronica told them, and they nodded. Leon took one last suspicious glance at Ivy before following Zoe out of the room.

 

3

 

  Ivy ripped off her glasses and grunted in pain as she felt a burning sensation in her veins. They laid on the counter in the labs, next to the container that held the mold. She let out a small, pained giggle at the sight of the mold. She opened the lid, ignoring the spores that collected on the clear plastic of the container. She took a dropper full of some sort of compound and held it above the mold, squeezing slightly and letting a few drops of the mystery liquid drop onto the mold.

  It hissed and gave off a green gas. Ivy knew it wasn’t spores, so she didn’t recoil or run out of the room. Instead, she stared at it intensely, waiting for something else to happen. Shortly after the gas had cleared, the mold began to give off a green glow. It pulsed and oozed with this new halo of green, and Ivy smiled wickedly.

  Green, glowing spores began to float into the air, and Ivy quickly covered the substance up to prevent the spread of the virus.

  She then grabbed her glasses, breathing a slight sigh of relief as her world became darker. She looked toward the door, ready to leave the labs again.


	7. Chapter 7

  The absolute and infinite feeling of pain and emptiness at the loss of someone you love can be overwhelming. Your life may become a hunt for answers that only lead you to misery and obsession; leaving you with the inability to move on. Or it may lead you to a dead end which leaves you feeling restless and unsatisfied with life. You may long to see their timeless beauty once more; long to hear their sweet and solemn voice cry out to you as a last resort as you stare on, powerless to save them or do anything to help because they don’t want to put you in danger. Your last encounter may lead to that chilling voice plaguing your thoughts and haunting your nightmares, forcing you to awaken in the middle of the night, breathless and alone.

  Natalya knew what it was like to lose the person she loved, or at least she thought she did.

  She wanted to be left alone, that’s all. After everything she’d been through, she was convinced she’d be better off on her own. She just needed to decompress; to relieve the stress from hiding. After all, wasn’t that why she dyed her hair in the first place?

  Now? Her position was compromised.

  She sat at the table, the neon lights from the open sign painted her skin and the area surrounding her in a faint blue glow. The rain softly pattered outside, hitting the window in droves and decorating the glass with delicate lines as they dripped down. The clouds were grey and hung low in the sky; the day was almost ominous. Every now and then, despite how loud the bar was, thunder could be heard, rumbling lowly and threateningly. Music blared loudly from all around the bar and conversations buzzed all around her as people talked, drank, and danced. The bar was hardly the place for her to collect her thoughts, but she couldn’t complain. It was crowded.

  All the easier to hide in plain sight.

  Natalya glanced down at her phone, seeing the dozen messages from the same number. That man, Leon, was trying to talk to her, even if he knew she wouldn’t respond. They all held relatively similar messages: “Hey, it’s Leon. I’m leaving soon, if you feel like anything’s wrong, call me.” “Hey, Leon again. Something seemed off to me this morning, keep this in mind.” And so on so forth. She rolled her eyes and locked her phone before placing it back into her pocket. She took a sip of her drink as she looked around the room, observing everyone and making sure that _they_ weren’t there.

  The room became fuzzy for a moment as her head began to spin. She knew it wasn’t because of the booze, it almost never was and she wasn’t nearly far enough into her rounds in order for that to be happening. No. Something was coming back to her.

  An almost translucent haze came over the room and she saw the interior of a fancy banquet hall. Through the mist she saw people, dressed in gowns and tuxes, talking amongst themselves and drinking fancy cocktails. The weather was still booming outside.

  Three people stood near the door: two men and a woman. The woman clung to one of the men, who wore all black and a pair of sunglasses. The woman matched his outfit, also donning a black themed aesthetic. Their blonde hair was pulled away from their face, with the woman’s hair being braided back. Natalya felt the urge to get up, but she didn’t. She stared at the group as the face of the third man began to blur and almost melt away into itself. The woman, however, turned her head slightly, her eyes closed. Slowly, as if time itself was stopping, she began to open her eyes. Natalya nearly fell over as the vision ended; she didn’t get to see the woman’s eyes.

  Quickly, Natalya gathered her things and brought the cup back up to the bar, laying down a tip for the bartender before rushing out of the place. She wasn’t sure what she saw, but she knew it wasn’t good. It was a hint, a step in the right direction. Perhaps she was finally getting to the bottom of this.

 

2

 

 

  The place she was in was dark, aside from her small little space, which was illuminated by a single light that hung above her head. There was glass surrounding her, making up the four walls of a room. She was closed off from the outside world, but they could see her.

  She sat on a bed. It was relatively soft, and the sheets weren’t nearly as scratchy as the ones in the mines. There were a few pillows set up, and there was a nightstand beside the bed. She wasn’t restrained like she was in the mines, either. It was odd. She was sure it was Lucas who had kidnapped her, so why wasn’t she being restrained?

  She stood up and made her way to the nightstand. She tried to lift it, but realized it was bolted down to the floor. _‘Smart.’_ She found herself thinking, despite the situation she was in. Obviously, this cell wasn’t Lucas’s doing. She was a part of something bigger now, she just wasn’t sure what it was.

  Suddenly, the glass door opened. Jolene whipped around, startled by the sounds coming from behind her. Lucas stepped in, a white medical gown in his hands and his face blank. Jolene was unnerved by how quiet and calm he seemed, especially in contrast to how he was in the Baker house. She began to back away from him again, slowly and calmly. He didn’t say anything; he didn’t even pay attention to her. He just walked past her and placed the gown on her bed. She stared at the bed wearily, almost refusing to look up at Lucas, who was grumbling to himself about something.

  She was confused by the nature of this visit. It was nothing like she’d experienced before; it was short lived and the two didn’t even speak to each other. She was stuck pondering the situation she was in. This whole predicament seemed to be bigger than what Lucas wanted, or else he would have hurt her by then. He brought in a medical gown, and she was in better conditions than she expected. Someone else wanted her there, but she wasn’t sure who it was.

 

3

 

  Zoe stood by the door as she waited for Leon to grab his things. She had observed that, every now and then, Leon would grab his phone and check it. She wasn’t sure why he was doing it, but she’d figure she’d keep a close eye on him. Despite the fact that he’d been a government agent for the longest time, and that Chris trusted him, she had found herself becoming suspicious of everyone working there. Leon, Chris, Dr. Greene; they were all suspects now. Someone in Umbrella was a traitor, and they had hurt Jolene.

  He finally straightened up, grabbing his bag and putting it over his shoulder, smiling slightly as he waited for Zoe to say something. He felt the urge to check his phone again, but refrained from doing so. If Nat hadn’t answered yet, she definitely wasn’t going to any time soon.

  “Ready?” He asked, which she didn’t respond to. She merely turned around and left the room, expecting him to follow her.

  The two made their way down the halls of the Dulvey facility, which were eerily quiet that day. All the lights were on, but the agents and doctors and scientists weren’t rushing around like they normally did. Leon was a bit on edge that day, but the state of the facility made things worse. To him, the last time a building was this quiet all hell was breaking loose outside. The last time a building was this quiet, it was his first day on the job.

  Zoe was equally as uneasy as Leon. If things were quiet, that meant that the ones trying to get out were dead; that meant her family had just committed another atrocity. She wasn’t scared, but she walked with a heavy heart. She knew that her parents weren’t like that, but they died while trying to kill someone. It was a horrifying thought, knowing that her parents were capable of murdering and torturing people like that, but she lived on anyway. She walked with her hand on her gun, not hesitating to draw the weapon on anything that she considered a threat.

  “You’re leaving I presume?” Leon and Zoe jumped, startled by the voice coming from behind them. Zoe pulled out her gun and pointed it at the source of the voice. Her eyes were cold and full of distrust, but they softened at the sight of a familiar face. She didn’t drop the gun initially, but, slowly, she began to lower it.

  “Hey Veronica. Where is everybody?” Leon asked. Veronica stood there, her arms crossed as she stared at Zoe, unamused. She turned her attention to Leon, the same unamused look on her face.

  “Dr. Greene made a breakthrough earlier. She believes she’s found the chemical The Connections were going to use to spread the mold infection aerially.” Veronica explained. Her expression went from that of annoyed to worry almost immediately.

  “Are you guys okay? You seem a bit on edge.” She said while placing her finger on Zoe’s gun, lowering it even further. Zoe dropped her arm and let out a sigh.

  “Yeah it’s just… with all that’s been happenin’ and with Jolene getting’ kidnapped, you can’t be too cautious.” She explained. Veronica sighed.

  “But you can be paranoid.” She said in a solemn tone. She began to walk away, presumably to go talk to Ivy.

  “You two be safe.” She called out before disappearing behind a corner. Zoe sighed and put her gun back into its holster.

  “Sorry ‘bout that.” She muttered. Leon shook his head.

  “It’s okay kid. I don’t blame you, something’s definitely off today.” He told her.

   They walked the rest of the way in silence.

  


	8. Chapter 8

  A group of people stood in the darkness surrounding Jolene’s cell, observing, waiting. Lucas stat beside Dr. Reed, anxiously awaiting the opportunity to get to her again. She was wearily looking around, grasping the white gown in her hands which were nearly the same color as the gown. Her breathing was labored and she was visibly frightened. She knew that people were in the darkness surrounding her. She could feel their eyes on her, watching her closely. Part of her knew that Lucas was out there too, and that frightened her more than anything else.

  She slipped her flannel off and placed it and the gown on the bed. She then undid her shorts and slid them down her pale legs, looking around as she did so. She stopped for a moment, her hands grasping at the base of her tank top, and looked around one last time. People were definitely watching, all of them probably strangers, and yet all she could think of was the fact that Lucas was probably out there. He was waiting in the inky blackness, waiting to pounce on her when she least expected it. With a deep breath, she lifted her shirt. The scar from the surgery was still red and sore. It reached up from below the waistband of her panties to her bellybutton.

  Dr. Reed immediately took note of the wound, along with the other two or three researchers there. He looked over at Lucas, who sat on the edge of his seat, looking like he was ready to pounce. Dr. Reed rolled his eyes and placed his clipboard down on the floor beside him and put his pen in his pocket. He leaned over to Lucas, his face neutral, as it always was.

  “She’ll kill you if you hurt the subject, you know that right?” Dr. Reed asked. Lucas looked at him from the corner of his eye, a smirk playing at his thin lips.

  “Oh I know. An’ I’d _love_ to see that bitch try.”

  “She created that stuff. Do you really think she doesn’t know how to nullify your mutations?” Dr. Reed countered, shocked by Lucas’s statement. He leaned back, stretching his arms behind his head and kicking out his lanky legs while the doctor watched on. He seemed careless, but inside he knew that Dr. Reed was right.

  “Ah, don’ say that. She needs me fer this, uh, experiment.” Lucas chuckled under his breath, and Dr. Reed immediately knew what he was referring to.

  “But she said that Umbrella had the mold in their possession. If anything she would have-”

  “I don’ know ‘bout all that. All I know is the boss lady wan’s me to make it with Patient Zero over there.” Dr. Reed rolled his eyes again, leaning down to grab his clipboard once more and clicking his pen. He scribbled something down, something that Lucas was weary of.

  “Jolene is not patient zero, can you not refer to her as such?” Lucas waved him off.

  “Don’ matter what **I** call ‘er. It’s all o’ you that get all technical.” Other members of the staff rose from their seats, causing Dr. Reed to look up at them, then at Jolene. She was seated on her bed, looking around aimlessly. She wasn’t doing much, but it wasn’t like she could in that cell. Dr. Reed stood from his seat, following suit with the other scientists.

  “So y’all just wanted a free peepshow, that it? All ya had to do is ask ya know! She’d give those out fer free!” Lucas taunted, causing Dr. Reed to turn around.

  “Please be quiet. No one wants to hear what you have to say; if they did, they’d ask you.” Dr. Reed told him as the door to the rest of the facility opened. Lucas stared at the doctor, wondering what **_She_** would do if he were to kill him. He knew how She got when he messed with Her experiments, with her

  Jolene watched as the flood of scientists left the room. Their forms were mere silhouettes against the bright, white light of the outside world, but she could see the chairs in detail, and she felt herself go cold at the sight of Lucas. He stood, watching her the whole time, and left the room. She pulled the gown over her shivering form before throwing her old clothes to the floor. She felt tears welling up in her eyes again along with the familiar quiver of her lip. She sat on the bed and pulled the white covers over her legs, the coolness of the unused sheets causing goosebumps to form all over her. Her eyes never left the darkness surrounding her new environment.

   Yet, despite this horrible situation she was in, she was sure the others would come looking for her. She knew that Zoe wouldn’t rest until she was found, and, even though she hadn’t known Dr. Greene long enough, she knew that she would send her best agents to recover her.

  That was the odd thing to Jolene: how much Dr. Greene seemed to care about her. She was always rather motherly to her, trying her best to keep her comfortable while all of these horrible things were happening to her body. Perhaps, Jolene wondered, it was because Dr. Greene was used to working with traumatized people who had suffered horribly from the fallout of BOW-induced conditions. Dr. Greene was very friendly and warm. Jolene felt as if she could trust her with her life, which, after the events that took place almost a year ago, was a hard thing to gain. Jolene was not a very trusting person at all, but she felt safe around Dr. Greene.

  Jolene laid her head on the cold pillow that smelt faintly like disinfectant, like everything else in the room, and stared out into the darkness. She hoped that someone would find her soon; she wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to put up with this.

 

2

 

  Jill arrived at the facility later that day. She stood outside the gates, taking in the sight of the large building with the word _Umbrella_ painted in large letters on the front. She took in a deep breath, still wary about the whole “Umbrella” thing.

  She had changed quite a bit since ‘09, but that was always a good thing to her. Her hair had been growing back in brown, with that awful blonde color residing only on the tips of her hair. Her skin had gained back some color so she didn’t look like a walking corpse. She looked healthier in general than she did years ago, and she was thankful for that.

  Chris stood behind the gates, and as soon as he saw her he rushed to one of the guards to tell them to let her in. The gates swung open slowly, casting long shadows on the ground as they moved. Jill walked forward, reuniting with Chris after all this time.

  “Hey. You’ve slimmed out.” She joked, holding out her arms. He immediately grasped onto her, happy to see her again.

  “But you’re still strong. I can’t breathe, dude.” Jill reminded him. He let go of her, laughing awkwardly.

  “Sorry.” He stated. She was really there, standing in front of him, the same Jill he’s always known. She smiled at him and punched his arm lightly.

  “Don’t beat yourself up over it.” She said quietly, a small smile on her lips. He looked at the building, remembering why she was there in the first place and dreading the oncoming mission.

  “Ivy’s inside waiting for us.” He said. She looked at him, shocked.

  “Ivy? As in Dr. Ivy Greene? RPD Ivy?” She asked. Chris nodded.

  “Yeah, I couldn’t believe it when I heard it either.” He told her. The two walked toward the large building, its shadow looming over their small forms. They were going to do this; they were going to go in and finish this mission just like old times, the name of the company didn’t matter. If they were doing good in the world, then Jill and Chris would be there.

  The inside was cold and empty. Most people were rushing around, trying to get their hands on the formula Ivy had come up with to reverse the effects of the airborne virus. Of course, Jill didn’t know this, and the nearly empty building gave her the chills. It was eerily reminiscent of Raccoon City, but of course, with less blood everywhere. The blue walls reminded her of the halls of the RPD, and suddenly she wished that nothing out of the ordinary had happened back then. She wished that they could have stayed there, living out the rest of their days as S.T.A.R.S. members and leading a simple life.

   A woman walked down the hall, a smile on her face. Chris smiled and greeted her, and Jill felt lost. The woman held out her hand and Jill took it.

  “You’re Jill, yes? I’m Veronica, I’ll be briefing you on your mission. Though, I’m sure Dr. Greene has already told you what you’ll be doing.” Jill nodded.

  “So that really was Ivy on the phone.” Jill muttered. Veronica led the two down the hall into a room where Ivy already stood, an image already projected on the wall. It was dark inside the room, yet she still wore sunglasses. Jill froze.

  “Hello, miss Valentine. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Jill sat down wearily, watching Ivy closely. Much like Chris had, Jill found herself growing uncomfortable and cautious in the presence of Ivy, who had begun to remind them so much of Wesker, despite how different they were from each other back in the day.

  “It has. You changed your hair.” Jill commented, her voice a bit cold. Ivy picked up on this almost immediately.

  “I apologize, to the both of you, about the glasses again. There have been some problems and I’m a little bit worried about it but they said they’ll get it taken care of.” Ivy explained, not going too much into detail. Jill looked over at Chris, who then leaned over to whisper in her ear.

  “She said she got her eyes checked the other day. It’s okay, I’m freaked out by it too.” He told her, and she visibly relaxed, even if her mind was still racing with questions.

  Ivy pulled up a picture of an island while Veronica stood in front of it. She pointed at it before looking at the two again.

  “This island has been hiding from every radar and map for almost twenty years now. The only reason why we were able to find it was due to intel from an ex Umbrella employee who worked on the island. They came to Ivy with the info a little bit ago and we realized that The Connections could be using it to develop hybrid BOWs. We’ve asked for your help on this one because we know that you’ve dealt with Umbrella’s earlier BOWs, you two were the best qualified for the job.” Veronica explained. Jill nodded along, but her mind was focused on Ivy.

  “We have a plane waiting for the two of you by the lake. There’s a landing strip nearby, can’t miss it. I will be accompanying you until that point.” Veronica continued. Both Jill and Chris stood and waited for Veronica to go ahead of them. Just as they were about to leave, Ivy spoke up.

  “Good luck. I trust that you’ll get the job done.” She said, sending goosebumps up Jill’s arms once more.

  She just hoped she could trust her old friend.

 

3

 

  Zoe had managed to get into the abandoned warehouse that they believed Jolene was taken to. A window had been left open to an office. The office was devoid of people, but she knew that she had to get out of there before anyone comes back. She snuck down the hall, grabbing an extra lab coat from what she assumed was a closet. It seemed clichéd but it worked, so she went with it. She had to find Jolene.

  One thing she had to make sure of was that Lucas didn’t see her. If he did it was all over. For the time being, she had to sneak around and find an entrance for Leon, and a coat for him too. He’d probably laugh at her for the idea, but again, it was the only way. She didn’t realize there’d be so many people. She walked passed so many people without them noticing that they’d never seen her before, or if they did they assumed that she was new. New people were brought in from other compounds often, it wasn’t odd for a new face to arrive there.

  She got to a side door and opened it, but it only led out to a garden. Zoe placed her hand on her gun, worried that some twisted creature would come out from nowhere and try to rip her to pieces. The sounds of leaves rustling filled the screened in room along with flowing water from what Zoe presumed to be a fountain. If this had been any other garden, she’d be relaxed and enjoying how gorgeous it looked, but there, at a Connections base? Not a chance.

  Suddenly, she stepped on a vine and was thrown to the ground. A creature came out, its mouth wide open and gasping for air. Zoe felt fear course through her as it got closer, its long, claw-like fingers twitching. Its face looked like it was from a nightmare, oozing green and half melted, with an obvious white skull beneath the moss that grew in place of skin. Zoe reached for her gun, but stopped as the creature was yanked back.

  A man peeked from behind the monster’s giant form, smiling at Zoe.

  “Sorry about that, he gets a bit excited when people come to visit.” Zoe frowned.

  “I can see that.” She replied dryly. The man pulled it back into what looked like a giant pod. The more time Zoe spent in the gardens the more curious she got.

  “Are you from HQ? I didn’t know we were getting a visitor today.” The man inquired. Zoe nodded and held out her hand.

  “I’m Dr. Marguerite Jackson.” Zoe said, her voice pained as she thought of her parents. The man took her hand and shook it.

  “I’m Nick Jones. No need to be formal here, ya know?” He introduced. Zoe nodded. She looked around briefly before turning her attention back to him.

  “I’m lookin’ for the girl. The boss wants a report from me.” She explained. Nick seemed to understand what she was talking about and slowly nodded.

  “The Baker survivor, right? Jolene, wasn’t it?” Nick asked. Zoe nodded. He made sure the pod was closed and moved the vine away from the walkway before walking toward the door.

  “Yeah, just come with me.” Nick said. Zoe followed him through the door, forgetting about how she was supposed to let Leon in. Nick led her through the halls she had already gone through before stopping in front of what she had originally thought was an empty office. Nick glanced at her.

  “Sorry. A lot of rooms in this place aren’t what they seem.” He apologized. Zoe nodded, waving him off. He stopped her before she went in.

  “I forgot to say it earlier but I like your hair.” He told her. Her hand immediately went to her bangs and she remembered the white at the tips. She smiled.

  “Thanks.” She said to him quietly. He then waved and left. Zoe took a deep breath before opening the door.

  It was almost entirely dark inside, aside from the light above Jolene’s glass prison, however it was rather dim compared to how it was mere hours before Zoe’s arrival. Zoe carefully shut the door, realizing how much light she was letting in. She slowly made her way down the steps of the auditorium, taking the precautions to make sure she didn’t trip. Strange noises echoed in the empty room, and Zoe felt herself becoming sick. She was scared. She didn’t know if that Nick guy was trust-worthy, and now she was in a room without Leon. Only her and her gun with limited ammo.

  The lights to Jolene’s cell became brighter as she walked toward it, and a sickening voice shouted from within.

  “Is my time up already, doc?” Zoe froze. The lights continued to get brighter and she couldn’t care that she could be seen now. No. She was horrified by the image in front of her. It was Lucas, who was clawed up and bloodied, on top of a mutated Jolene who was still struggling beneath him. She had been crying. Lucas looked over at Zoe, blood dripping from his eyes and cheeks, staining the pristine sheets and floors. A sickening smile came over his features.

  “Oh, hey Zo. What’re ya doin’ here?” He asked, showing off his missing teeth and ripped out tongue as he spoke. Zoe was horrified.

  “Get offa her!” Zoe shouted, her hand going for her gun. Lucas sat up, revealing his cut-open stomach in the process. His blood coated the sheets and Jolene, who seemed to be barely conscious.

  “Give me a second, I’m almost done.” He called before pushing into Jolene again, causing her to groan, crying out in a subtle way. She had no more tears to cry. Zoe pulled the trigger, yet the bullet barely made a scratch. Instead, it ricocheted off of the glass and hit the ceiling. Lucas looked up at her again, rolling the one eye that was still in its socket.

  “That ain’t gonna work.” He stated bluntly before moving again. Zoe was determined to kill him. She was going to do it whether Blue Umbrella wanted her to or not. She pulled the trigger again, which cracked the glass a bit more. She did it again, and again, until she was out of bullets. By the time she was out, the glass had been impacted enough for her to smash through it. Then the question would be how would she incapacitate Lucas?

  She hit the glass with her gun, shattering it, and kicked the rest in, effectively smashing her way through and into the room. She ripped Lucas from Jolene, who laid on the bed groaning in pain. Zoe gently took her face in her hands, trying her best to get her to see that she was safe; she wanted her to see that she had come for her. Jolene began to open her eyes at the feeling of Zoe’s cold hands on her, a small smile came to her bruised lips. Zoe looked back at Lucas, who sat in the corner with his pants pulled halfway up his thighs. Zoe wanted to strangle him; she wanted to watch the life drain from his eyes as he gasped for air. But she knew that he wouldn’t die.

  “Come on, we’re goin’ home. We’re gonna go far away from this fuckin’ place.” Zoe told her. Jolene smiled wider, tears returning to her eyes. Just as Zoe reached for Jolene’s hands, the door swung open, followed by gunshots.

  “Leon?” Zoe called.

  “We gotta go!” He answered. Zoe took Jolene into her arms and tried her best to help her walk, but she was moving too slow. Leon closed the door and rushed over, handing Zoe his gun.

  “I got her, just clear the way out!” He demanded. She nodded and did as she was told.


	9. Chapter 9

  “She’s back.” Veronica panted, peeking her head through the door to Ivy’s personal laboratory. Ivy was bent over a microscope, studying some sort of plant-based liquid in the low light provided by a rather large UV light. Her head snapped up as soon as Veronica had finished speaking, the light from the outside reflecting in her glasses and making her seem like a creature lurking in the night.

  As expected, Ivy immediately began to clean up, containing whatever substance she was working with and packing away her microscope before rushing toward the door.

  Veronica looked around the space while Ivy was busy cleaning up. She had never been inside Ivy’s laboratory before, and while she knew how secretive she could be, she couldn’t help but wonder why Ivy felt the need to keep everything inside hidden under lock and key, especially from herself. After all, she was a glorified secretary who tracked things when it was required of her. She was no scientist, so why hide all that work from her.

  Then, something caught her eye. A piece of paper that was tacked to the wall, just out of reach of the UV light. Veronica took advantage of Ivy being distracted and made her way toward it, squinting as she tried to read it. She looked over her shoulder to see if Ivy was still near the sinks, and when she saw that she was still preoccupied, she took the paper. She tilted her head at the peculiarity of – what seemed to be – an email.

  _“To Dr. Ivy Greene,_

_Subject: The Dulvey Operation – the girl_

_Hello. We received subject J-013 a few days ago and we’ve set her up in her own cell. We’ve made sure to take good care of the subject while she’s in our custody, especially after what happened with N-001 back in 2005. Although, I do have a few questions._

_The first one is about BS. He has been causing nothing but trouble, and while I understand how integral he is to our initiative and the Dulvey Operation as a whole, I wish to terminate him as quickly as possible. You want him alive, I know – we all do, yet he’s a danger to the subject and the mission itself. He wants the subject, and while you have given us orders to let him have her, what’s stopping him from killing her when our backs are turned?_

_The second question is in regards to a peculiar scar on the subject. We suspect it has something to do with the last project we undertook – the damage control for that project, if you will – but we fear that the amount of time we have given her to heal is not sufficient. If she cannot produce what we need, we will have to terminate her. I’m sure you’d agree._

_If she cannot bear the FOUNDATION, can we also terminate LB?_

  The bottom half was torn off. Veronica couldn’t seem to figure out what it meant. They were working on a “Dulvey Operation” themselves but… she knew that they didn’t have any test subjects. Blue Umbrella had sworn that off as soon as they were established in 2005.

  “Veronica…” She couldn’t help but jump at the sound of Ivy’s voice. She turned around almost immediately, clutching the email to her chest. Ivy stared at her, her gaze switching between Veronica’s face and the paper that she held to herself.

  “Oh dear, what do you have there?” Ivy asked. Veronica looked down, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She normally did that when she was nervous. She took a deep breath and swallowed; her throat felt as if it were closing up.

  “I, well, I was – um…” Ivy quirked an eyebrow. It was the most emotion she had shown in the past few days. Then, she calmly reached over and took the paper from the shaking secretary. Ivy stared at it, reading over it for a few moments, her expression not changing. Finally, with a sigh, she folded the paper up and placed it in a small container. She then turned around and searched amongst a selection of test tubes, her finger pointing at each one as her hand glided in front of them. Finally, she stopped and chose one, uncapped it, then poured it on the paper. Veronica was too frightened to say anything. The two sat in silence as the paper fizzed and dissolved.

  “I apologize,” Ivy began, turning back toward Veronica. The frightened woman stared at her, unsure of what to think.

  “I’m sure that email seemed frightening, but I assure you,” Ivy took off her glasses, but her eyes were still closed.

  “It’s nothing for you to worry about.” She finally stated. She opened her eyes.

 

2

 

    Zoe sat beside Jolene’s bed. The subtle beeping from her heart monitor seemed to be the only noise in the room. She had cleaned off Lucas’s blood soon after they got to the compound and sent Leon to get Jolene a change of clothes for when they released her. She was peacefully sleeping, something Zoe knew wouldn’t last. The images from earlier were burned into her head, the blood and slashes that reminded her of the horrors in her old home.

    Her hand was intertwined with Jolene’s. Jolene’s whole body was cold and limp, and if it hadn’t been for the slow, shallow breaths she took or the small beeps from the heart monitor she would have thought she was dead. She couldn’t help but wonder what they were doing to her over there. There weren’t any bruises or signs of trauma on her, which led Zoe to believe that the scientists incapacitated her and allowed Lucas to do that to her. Although, with how horrible he looked, she assumed it took some time to knock her out.

  The door opened and ripped Zoe away from her thoughts. She looked over to see both Ivy and Veronica, the latter of which looked like she had seen a ghost. Zoe couldn’t help but feel worried. She wondered if they had bad news.

  “She hasn’t woken up yet, has she?” Ivy asked. Zoe shook her head.

  “I think they drugged her.” Ivy walked over and took Jolene’s arm. Zoe let go of her hand as Ivy inspected her. She took her hand and closely observed her nails.

  “They did, but it didn’t work in the way they thought it would.” Ivy commented. Zoe looked over at her and she was quick to point out the tips of Jolene’s fingers.

  “They’re still healing, but her claws came out. They triggered her mutation and had to give her a larger dose.” Ivy explained. Zoe looked down.

  “Zoe, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to ask you to leave for now. I want to run some more tests on her.” Ivy requested. Veronica visibly tensed at her words. Zoe looked over at her, her eyes full of tears. She nodded.

  “Veronica.” Ivy called.

  “Could you escort miss Baker out?” She asked, prompting only a nod from Veronica, who quickly rushed toward Zoe and helped her up.

  Ivy was left alone with Jolene.

 

3

 

  Jolene woke up to see Ivy sitting in the corner of her room, on her laptop once more. It felt eerily similar to when she woke up after surgery, except there was something off with Dr. Greene. She didn’t seem to acknowledge Jolene, unlike the first time. She seemed cold and annoyed, as if something wasn’t going her way. Jolene sat up, feeling her fingers burn with the familiar sting of cut flesh.

  “Dr. Greene?” She called awkwardly, her voice hoarse from screamin and sleep. Ivy looked over, but she didn’t smile. Like before, she shut her laptop and stood.

  “You’re awake.” She commented. Jolene arched an eyebrow.

  “I’m glad.” She sounded the opposite of glad. Jolene became increasingly uneasy as Ivy responded. She wasn’t sure what she was up to, or why she had a sudden distrust of her, but she was going to find out. She looked at the laptop, then at Ivy, who’s sunglasses reflected her own terrified face.

  “What were ya writin’?” She asked her, her voice innocent enough. She couldn’t see her eyes, but she could tell that Ivy wasn’t pleased with her questioning. She walked away and placed the laptop on the counter.

  “It isn’t important. I have to go get something, results from my tests. Stay put.” She said, not bothering to look back at the girl as she spoke. She left the room shortly after, leaving Jolene alone to ponder the peculiarity of Ivy’s actions.

  Normally she was kind and loving toward her, but now? It was odd. It was almost as if Jolene had done something wrong; Ivy seemed disappointed. Disappointed in her, in Umbrella, she was just mad at something and she couldn’t tell what it was. She was also questioning the sunglasses. She wasn’t like that when she left, so why was she wearing them now?

  The door opened again, but it wasn’t Ivy who stepped in. It was Veronica. She looked scared and she walked swiftly. When she got to the bed she leaned over, unhooking Jolene from the monitors and unplugging them so people wouldn’t hear the sound of the flat line. Jolene went to speak, but veronica shushed her.

  “She may be listening.” She whispered. Jolene stared at her in pure confusion.

  “Who?”

  “There’s a traitor here.” Veronica stated, and Jolene couldn’t help but gasp. Veronica placed a finger to her lips and shook her head. Jolene understood and nodded before standing up. Her legs still felt a bit numb, but she knew that she had to get out of there. Veronica’s new attitude scared her, and if there was a traitor then she knew she had to get out of there.

  She led her down the hall, in the opposite direction Ivy went in. It was nearly empty, which was odd. Veronica knew what happened. She had taken the steps to verify her suspicions when the traitor wasn’t looking. They told everyone to go home.

  Most of the hallways were dark, and if Jolene didn’t know any better she’d say that the building was abandoned. Veronica was rushing, not quite running or jogging, but she was moving fast. She was frightened, and determined to save Jolene and the world. The connections had a plan, a horrible plan that would require the sacrifice of so many innocent people. Veronica would not sit back and let it happen.

  “Where’re we goin’?” Jolene asked. Veronica stopped by a corner, peeking around it to make sure no one was there.

  “I have to hide you. They need you specifically, and if they don’t have you then they can’t do it.”

  “Do what?” She was on the brink of tears. Veronica turned around.

  “You won’t believe me if I told you. Please, please. If not for yourself then for the safety of the world.” Veronica pleaded, finally breaking down into tears. Jolene watched as she tried to compose herself, Veronica knew that if she lost it they would be in danger. A shadowy figure approached them, and Jolene knew that she had to call it out.

  “Dr. Greene?”

_Bang!_

  Jolene watched in horror as Veronica’s body fell to the floor, her blood splattering all over her and the wall. Ivy pushed her glasses up her face and lowered her gun. Jolene stared at Veronica’s lifeless body, choking on her own tears. Blood was pooling from the hole in her head onto the floor, soaking Jolene’s feet in it. Blood was everywhere and it stained her medical gown and Ivy’s coat. Ivy watched emotionlessly as the girl sobbed. She looked up at her.

  “She knew better than to do this. I warned her, after all. It’s such a shame, too. She was good at what she did.” Ivy stated dryly before turning her attention back to Jolene. She grabbed her by the back of her gown and dragged her toward the elevator, ignoring her shouts of protest.

  “You…”

  “Yes. I’m sure you trusted me at some point, a horrible mistake, really. I’ll tell you more once we get to my office.” Jolene glared at the woman. She did trust her. How she could have been so stupid was beyond her, but there was something about Ivy that made her feel as if she could trust her.

  She was thrown into the office. She landed flat against the cold, hard, linoleum floors and struggled to regain her breath. Ivy walked right past her, her heels clicking against the tiles, a sound that seemed to echo in Jolene’s ears.

  The room was dark, much like Ivy’s laboratory, and it smelled like lemon-scented cleaning products. Jolene sat up and watched as Ivy opened her laptop again. The display showed her email, and that was it. Although, that didn’t stop Jolene from trying to read it. Ivy pressed a button on a small, phone-like contraption then placed it back on her desk. She turned around to see Jolene up and staring at her laptop. She let out a small laugh.

  “Read it all you want; it won’t make sense to you.” Jolene glared at Ivy, who was preoccupied with a small container. The plastic was hazy and hard to see through, so Jolene had no clue what she was looking at. Ivy was quick to uncap it and show it to her. It was more mold. Suddenly, Jolene felt sick.

  “This was from you. I’ve found that mold that’s made from someone already infected by earlier types increases the regenerative properties and it makes it more contagious than any other type created. And with the right chemicals,” Ivy turned to grab a vial that was set on her desk. It was only half full, and Jolene assumed that she had used it before. She poured it onto the mold, and like before it began to pulsate and give off glowing, green spores. Jolene flinched and began to back up, but Ivy grabbed ahold of her.

  “It’s okay. It won’t hurt you.” She spoke through her teeth. Jolene looked into the blank glasses, fearful for her life.

  “Then why aren’t ya runnin’? It’s from _me_ , and ya ain’t infected.” Jolene squirmed in her grasp. Ivy chuckled at this, and let go of her, causing her to fall over. She reached up for her glasses, removing them slowly. Jolene was frightened. Whatever Ivy had been hiding with those glasses couldn’t have been good, and it wasn’t.

  She opened her eyes to reveal that they had turned completely black, save for her irises, which remained that same vivid green. Against the black they seemed to be enhanced, almost glowing. She smiled wickedly at Jolene as she took off her coat, revealing the black veins that ran up her pale arms. Jolene felt herself go numb as she realized what Ivy did to herself.

  “Yer infected.” She managed to say.

  “Yes. This makes me the initial infected, meaning I can control whoever’s infected by this strain.” Ivy smiles and turns to Jolene again.

  “And if this all goes well then all of Dulvey, hell, Louisiana will be under my control.” Ivy muttered to herself, but Jolene heard her.

  “So that’s what all this is? A plan for ya to take over the world or somethin’?” Jolene snapped. Ivy laughed at her again.

  “No. But what I’m really up to, and what I need you for, is confidential.” She said as she took hold of her arm. Jolene looked at her with alarm and terror. She dragged her out the door and to the elevator again and pressed the button to the top floor. Jolene felt like crying.


	10. Chapter 10

 The blades of a helicopter whirred loudly in the late afternoon air. The setting sun peeked from behind the vehicle, its golden gleam being the only comforting thing about the scene. The clouds were painted with a soft, orange color and they hovered lazily over the horizon. The rooftop was nearly empty, save for a few people who waited by the helicopter.

  The door to the roof slammed open, and Ivy calmly walked out, dragging Jolene by her hair. The girl was agitated, that much anyone could see, and Lucas couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious at the sight. The men who waited by the helicopter approached Ivy, their guns drawn. She glared at them for a few moments and they lowered their weapons.

  “No worries, boss lady!” Lucas called over the booming sound of the blades. Ivy’s cold, glasses-covered gaze landed on Lucas, and he nearly shuddered because of it. He smiled at her sickly, and his bugged out eyes landed on the struggling blonde at the doctor’s feet.

  “The guns have, what do ya call ‘em? Tranquilizers?” He kidded. Jolene’s eyes widened as she tried to pry herself from the doctor’s iron grip. Her teeth were gritted so hard she was sure they’d shatter into a million pieces. However, the burning feeling she felt beneath her skin meant that she was going to transform soon, and for once she wanted it to happen.

  Lucas bent down so he was eye level with Jolene. She jumped back slightly, only to growl in pain when her hair was yanked. He smiled at her wickedly.

  “Thought you’d get away, did ya?” He asked, listening to her heavy breathing and whimpers and taking immense pleasure from it.

  “Oh yeah, I’m better now baby.” He mentioned, widening his bloodshot eyes that were clearly still healing from her attack. He looked up at Ivy, who was focused on the helicopter before them.

  “Did ya hear ‘bout what this one here did ta me? This bitch nearly gutted me! I had shit hangin’ outta my stomach for a good hour after she got taken back!” Lucas exclaimed, almost amused by his experience. Ivy glanced down at him again. He stood up and smiled at her.

  “I need more mold. You have her, make more.” She stated coldly as she threw Jolene at Lucas’s feet. He grabbed ahold of her arm and pulled her flush against him. She could see the small, pink scars that were left from when she attempted to gouge out his eyes. They were most likely still healing. She found herself trying to pull herself away, and she nearly got away, but Lucas wrapped an arm around her waist and squeezed. She felt almost all her air rush out of her in that moment.

  “And spare me the details.” Ivy finished, turning around to leave.

  “You  **_bitch_ ** !” Jolene screamed, stopping Ivy in her tracks. She turned around and watched Jolene struggle in Lucas’s arms.

  “I trusted ya! Ya were s’posed ta help me!” She cried. Ivy gave her a pity smile before walking toward her again. She placed her hand on her cheek.

  “I’m doing what I  _ came _ here to do. I owe you nothing, you just happened to still be infected, so I didn’t have to worry about infecting anyone else and starting the process all over again.” Ivy straightened up and nodded to Lucas, who began to drag Jolene away, laughing manically in the process. Jolene couldn’t help but let out a scream.

  They boarded the helicopter, and Ivy was left behind to watch as they carried away her most precious experiment.

###  2

  After her vision, Natalya made an effort to find out more about her past. She could barely remember anything as it was, aside from a few details here and there. However, she was haunted since that moment in the bar. She remembered a woman like the one she saw in her visions; she was cold and had killed her.

_ No _ , Natalya thought,  _ not killed. I was just knocked out. I was in a coma for seven years, almost eight, that’s what they told me when I woke up.  _ She blinked back tears as she rushed toward the bar again. She needed a drink desperately. Her mind had been playing tricks on her, and for a brief moment she wondered if Leon had drugged her and planted these ideas in her head. After all, her visions, which normally only happened in dreams, had only gotten worse after she met him. However, she knew that they matched up with her nightmares almost verbatim, and sometimes they would lead up to her nightmares and create a story that she thought didn’t happen.

  As she scurried down the sidewalk, she bumped into a woman. She scoffed and looked up, and Natalya expected her to say something rude, but she merely opened her mouth. She looked familiar to Nat, and she found herself staring; the woman did the same to her. Nat felt herself drawn to the reflective lenses of her glasses, though, the way the sun came through she could see her eyes behind them. They seemed normal, though there was one thing that caught her attention: her vivid green irises. They were the same eyes that she saw in her nightmares and visions. She quickly denied the idea of this woman being the same as the one from her vision; after all, the woman from her vision had blonde hair, this woman had a brownish-red color.

  She ran off into an alleyway as her vision blurred into something completely different. She fell over as the world around her began to spin, turning that eerie grey color that it had in the bar. She was in a lab this time, and the woman with blonde hair stood above her in the same position as the woman she just ran into. Her eyes glowed unnaturally, and Nat suddenly pieced everything together. The mystery woman might have disappeared in real life, too startled by her own past coming back to haunt her to stay, but the woman in her vision bent down with a syringe in hand. She plunged it into Nat’s neck, exactly where an odd scar she had was located.

  Then the real world returned to her.

  She stood on shaky legs and looked around. She remembered. Everything came back to her in that moment in a blur, spinning around in her head while she slowly walked down the alley, her hand running along the brick wall of the building as she tried to gather her thoughts. She had to find Leon. She had to apologize to him. She had to ask him how his life had been since Raccoon City, to tell him how happy she was to see that he was alive, to explain to him how scared she was. Most of all, she wanted to tell him how much she wished she had left with him.

  Quickly, she pulled out her phone, opting to call him instead of text. He picked up after the first couple of rings.

  “Hello?” He asked, his voice telling her that he was scared. She assumed that he was scared that she’d yell at him.

  “Leon…” She cried. Her voice resembled how it sounded all those years ago, when she was afraid for her life and begging him to go on without her. She was stopped in an alleyway now, choking on tears as her memories overwhelmed her. She found herself able to pinpoint exactly where her life went wrong, when she met that man with the sunglasses. She found herself thinking about when she met Leon in the RPD, and she couldn’t help but let out a loud sob.

  “Nat? Nat are you okay? Where are you?”

  “I… I know what happened.” She sobbed, and the other line went silent.

  “I saw her, the woman who killed me. Oh god, Leon, I’m so sorry.” She cried harder.

  “Nat, just tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.” He told her, but she shook her head.

  “No. I want you to tell me where you were working. I think she worked there, I’m not entirely sure.” She stated, trying her best to stay calm. She choked back sobs as she remembered her last moments with Leon before she was taken; she remembered how much she cared about him, despite the short amount of time they spent together.

  “I… why?”

  “There’s no time, damn it! That bitch is up to something. When she saw me she looked like she saw a ghost, not that I blame her.” Natalya stated. Leon cleared his throat.

  “The Dulvey facility of Blue Umbrella. It’s hidden in the swamps; I don’t think you’ll be able to find it. Again, I’ll come get you.” Nat looked down, considering his offer.

  “Fine. I’m a block away from the bar I was at the night I went home with you. I’m in an alleyway.” She told him.

  “I’ll be there soon.” Nat breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t felt this at ease yet on edge in years. Now she knew what had happened to her – what truly happened – but she also knew that the fight was far from over.

###  3

   Ivy stood in a warehouse, surrounded by Connections guards and personnel. She stood tall and silently, watching as the guards rushed forward, grabbing onto a large box. The bright fluorescent lights buzzed above them loudly in the quiet room. No one spoke as the truck was unloaded.

   It was warm and stuffy in the building, an obvious side effect of having to work in the south, yet Ivy could hardly feel it. Her body, upon infection, had almost become cold blooded. The hot, Louisiana air didn’t bother her quite as much as it used to. She always felt a bit cold and she could feel the foreign substance pulse through her veins at all times. 

  One of the guards pried open the box and Ivy could feel a wave of happiness overcome her. She was almost visibly giddy as she leaned over the box, seeing the familiar face of the only person she loved other than herself. 

   His face was still a bit scarred, with black tendrils reaching across the pale skin in an almost healing fashion. A hard, translucent shell encapsulated him and made things a bit hard to see, but it only served as proof of how perfect this specific virus was. The fact that he had survived this long - though still healing - was enough for Ivy to know that her hard work paid off.  Her hand ghosted along the shell, longing for nothing more than to touch him again. 

   “Can you really bring him back?” A doctor asked as he slammed the door to the truck shut. Ivy looked up at him and smiled. 

   “Of course I can. I was the one who helped engineer this virus, after all, and paired with the Lazarus project? He’ll be back and the world will be at his feet, as it should have been years ago.” She stated simply before turning her attention back to the comatose man before her. 

   She knew what was at stake if he didn’t wake up though, even if she had little to no doubts about being able to wake him up. Not only was her job at stake, but the future of the Connections was as well. Her life was at stake as well, but she wasn’t sure if she could live knowing that she failed to do the one thing that was expected of her; she wasn’t sure she could live if she couldn’t live up to what  **_he_ ** expected of her. He told her what she had to do if everything went south, even if he had actually died that day. 

   She spent years looking for him, carrying out small operations to find him. When there were reports of an eruption in Africa about a year before, she sent people out to search. It took months to find a mere trace of his survival, then a few more months to find him. It took almost two years to get to where she was now, and she was ready - had been ready - to bring him back. 

  For the first time since that night nine years before, she shed a tear. 

  “Don’t worry Al, I’m gonna make sure everyone’s out of our way, then you’ll be a god. And I, your loyal servant.” She murmured before standing again. The guards rushed to the crate with a cart and quickly moved it down the hall. 

  “We’ll see what we can do about the cocoon. It was able to survive a lot and managed to protect him within, so we aren’t sure if we can even penetrate it to put a port in for you-” 

   “Figure it out, Dr. Crane. Your life depends on it.”  


End file.
